Secretary of State Rex Tillerson say that during his Thursday visit to Brussels, President Trump will be “really tough” on the other NATO member nations, and that how really tough he’s going to be will “be the core of his message to NATO.”
Trump is expected to focus, as US presidents always do, on demanding that NATO member nations dramatically increase their military spending, with an eye toward getting the spending up to at least 2% of their respective national GDPs. Most nations in NATO don’t spend so much.
Many of the nations, including Germany, have made it clear they have no intention of spending 2% of their GDPs on military force, which would be a pointless economic burden for nations with large economies and little to no practical uses for their military.
The US has been trying to play up the idea of conflict with Russia as a justification for a major military buildup in Eastern Europe, but even with that buildup taking place, few nations see a need to increase their spending to anywhere near that rate, and no expectation and the Russia threat is ever going to amount to anything.
Hopefully Trump will flip-flop on his flip-flop and go back to the realization that NATO is obsolete.
He didn’t flip flop. It’s been about the money the whole time.
Yes it is about money. Now take Germany. What could it do with the funding if it raises its spending to 2% of GDP? Hire more soldiers? No. Raise salaries? No. Buy more Abram tanks? Yes. Buy more F35? Yes. What Trump tries is old fashioned extortion and every NATO country knows it.
tillerson is a ceo exxon mobile pig………
It is possible Trump will unleash the ultimate weapon,one of his ‘stinkies”(vulgo dictu: farts).
How is “really tough” different from just tough? Suggestion: I will not leave Europe until y’all have raised your military spending to 2% of your GDP’s. You must buy more stuff from us or else.
Try to get them to buy our weapons trump